In my opinion, rim protectors have the biggest impact on team defences. I'm tempted to say Rudy Gobert, who is holding opponents to 39 percent shooting at the rim, but if a shot blocker falls on a 26-36 Utah team, does anyone care?

Instead, I'll use this forum to throw some love towards Timofey Mozgov (but only for his 29 games in Cleveland). How many players on Cleveland are better than Mozgov?

Not one, not two, not three…well, you get the point. Mozgov is no superstar, but he might be the defensive straw that broke the Eastern Conference's back.

Cleveland was 19-17 (.528) before Mozgov. They are 21-8 (.714) since. When Mozgov is on the court, opponents have an effective field-goal percentage (eFG%) of .470. When he is off, that number rises to .510.

According to Basketball-Reference, when Mozgov is on the court, opponents score 101.8 points per 100 possessions. When he is off, opponents score 108.2 points per 100 possessions.

Mozgov's impact on both opponent eFG% and opponent points per 100 possessions is the best among the 11 players that have played at least 500 minutes for Cleveland this season.

In Cleveland, Mozgov is holding opponents to 45.3 percent shooting on eight field goals per game at the rim.

By comparison, Defensive Player of the Year contender (and perhaps, favourite) DeAndre Jordan is holding opponents to 49.4 percent shooting on 8.7 field goals attempted at the rim (per game).

Mozgov is seeing as much action at the rim as Jordan and has been significantly better (at least according to this statistic).

Let's take the comparison to Jordan one step further.

According to NBA.com's play type data, Mozgov has defended the roll man (after he receives the ball) on the pick and roll 35 times for Cleveland. In those instances, the roll man is scoring .91 points per possession (PPP). Jordan (by contrast) is allowing .90 PPP when guarding the roll man.

Mozgov is not the most talented defensive player in the NBA, but his fit in Cleveland has been outstanding. He may have turned a second round playoff team into a champion.

If so, he will be well worth the two (protected) first-rounders that Cleveland gave up for him, and he will deserve consideration as this season's most impactful defensive player.

A mere seven days ago, I followed up by admitting to being cautiously optimistic about the Hornets' hopes of securing a playoff spot in the malaise of the Eastern Conference's lesser half.

It would be remiss to suggest that Charlotte can miraculously catapult itself toward the scarce but leafy canopies of the East; however, if they are to continue the current trend, it's going to require a weighty serving of Kidd-Gilchrist's predatory defence.

You could be forgiven for having not judiciously followed the Hornets' scattered season-they don't play at a particularly zippy pace (comfortably in the bottom third of the league), nearly one in three of their attempts is a pull-up jumper, and they are tied for 27 th in sourcing points from the perimeter.

Those are some putrid, putrid numbers, yes, but try to back away from the offensive ineptitude that has plagued Charlotte for just one moment.

Steve Clifford has overseen a restoration that would impress even the Property Brothers , and the bulk of the kudos belongs to MKG. The Hornets were a below-average defensive team through two months of this season (with Kidd-Gilchrist in absentia for a sizable chunk of that period), but have rabidly reclaimed respectability ever since.

Kidd-Gilchrist's nose for the ball, exemplified by his crafty habit of lassoing opponents attacking off the dribble, provides an invaluable safety net for Charlotte's team defence.

According to Synergy Sports data, opposing players are shooting a lousy 32.2 percent when shooting off the bounce, and checked by MKG. What's more, he has an uncanny knack for absorbing the brunt of a hard pick and recovering, limiting opponents to 0.743 points per possessions when assuming contact on a pick-and-roll, per Synergy.

These little tidbits are not to be overlooked, though they're more of a sweetener, rather than the primary ingredients of the meal.

In clichéd basketball parlance, Kidd-Gilchrist is the archetypal Swiss army knife player-a multi-tooled, destructive force on the defensive end, complete with the physicality to shuffle seamlessly between positions.

But his true impact can probably be whittled down to a few simpler measurements: When he's on the floor, the Hornets' defensive rating (95.3) is equivalent to a league-best figure. When MKG sits? That defence slips from stubborn to subpar, plummeting by nearly 10 points per 100 possessions.

Kidd-Gilchrist also ranks in the top five among active wings for tracking down loose balls (min. 10 chances per game), claiming rebounds on 61.9 percent of his available opportunities, courtesy of SportVU player tracking data.

But above all else, the metric that reverberates louder than any of the above and best signals his value to this team, rests in wins and losses. Charlotte has laboured to a mark of 3-13 with him sidelined, and built a 25-20 record with MKG in the lineup.

Golden State Warriors guard/forward/centre Draymond Green may not be a left-field candidate for this year's Defensive Player of the Year Award, but make no mistake, he's the man to whom the trophy should be presented.

While Green is certainly an excellent rim protector for his size (he is the only player shorter than 6-9 ranking among the league's top-10 in terms of opponents field-goal percentage at the rim), he is not a top-10 shot blocker. Nor is he a top-10 defensive rebounder or thief.

What he is, however, is the most versatile and best defender on the league's most efficient defensive team; a team that includes fellow DPOY candidate Andrew Bogut.

Like Joakim Noah last year, Green leads the league in both individual defensive rating (96.7) and defensive win shares (4.2), per Basketball-Reference

He provides the Warriors with perhaps the most valuable defensive asset in all of basketball; someone who can legitimately guard all five positions.

With Bogut on the floor, Green becomes a lock-down stopper on the wings or on the opposing power forward.

But when the Dubs play small-ballas Steve Kerr is becoming increasingly fond of doing-Green plays the five; using his exceptional strength and competitive will to muscle opposing pivots out of the paint.

This is where Green's outstanding versatility is most obviously on display, as he seamlessly switches the pick-and-roll to disrupt the league's best point guards. He has the quickness to stay in front of even the most fleet of foot NBA playmakers, without having to sag off and give up the jump shot.

Unsurprisingly, when the Warriors play small-ball-maximising Green's defensive versatility-their efficiency at that end of the floor goes through the roof.

When the San Antonio Spurs clinched the 2014 NBA Championship, Tim Duncan was able to right a wrong that splintered every Spurs fan's pursuit of happiness for nearly 12 months.

So perhaps, in turn, it's time for us to also right a wrong, which is more perverse than any missed game-tying bunny or Ray Allen miracle shot : Tim Duncan never winning the Defensive Player of the Year.

Yes, the DPOY has escaped the clutches of a legendary defensive general… until now!

The All-Star Weekend is often the haven for lifetime achievement awards, while the end of season awards shed a more honest depiction of who put in the work for that specific season.

Duncan's DPOY candidacy is definitely not born from nostalgia.

With the defending champs' two other key defenders Kawhi Leonard and Tiago Splitter missing chunks of time this season, the Big Fundamental has been the one constant in a top-five NBA defence.

As always, Timmy's true impact can't be measured in raw numbers, although he does rank in the top-10 for blocks.

He doesn't merely swat balls, but rather, directs the ball down to his point guard's feet for swift counterattacks. Every movement is deliberate and rarely wasted.

Of course, challenging shots without fouling is a staple to any great team defence, and Duncan continues to lead the way in this regard (averages fewer than three fouls per 36 minutes).

Okay, fine, he's sometimes a stroke late rotating from weak side, but hell, grey hair will do that to you.